Lawyer strike brings 2G proceedings to halt

New Delhi, Aug 11 (IANS) A group of lawyers Thursday barged into a court where the 2G scam case was being heard, asking that the proceedings be stopped and the bar association strike be observed.

Special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) judge O.P. Saini, hearing the defense arguments of Hari Nair, one of the Reliance executives and an accused, said: “The defence lawyers should continue after 2 p.m.”

The court proceedings came to a halt thereafter as the defence lawyers trooped out.

Meanwhile, the court asked the accused in the court room if they wanted to submit anything. However, their arguments were deemed informal.

A. Raja, former communications minister and prime accused in the 2G spectrum allocation scam, said: “I know my role as a minister and my limitations. The letter I wrote to the prime minister was used as a policy.

“It was not a sole decision. The letter was also shown to the then solicitor general G.E. Vahanvati. The solicitor general went through the paper and said it was transparent.”

Following Raja’s arrest, Vahanvati was quizzed by the CBI about his alleged legal opinion justifying the “first come first served” policy adopted by Raja in the allocation of 2G spectrum.

The CBI has said Raja’s decision as telecom minister in 2008 to issue radio spectrum to companies at a mere Rs.1,659 crore ($350 million) for a pan-India operation had caused the exchequer losses worth thousands of crores of rupees.